Tribe falls short in sectional title game

COLDWATER, Ohio — Trailing by 12 with 2:20 left in the third quarter, the Indians began fighting to get back to the surface.
By the end of the period they were within eight.
When Ada called timeout with 5:32 to play, they had cut the deficit to five. And two minutes later, a Tori Lennartz three-point play closed the gap to 40-39.
But they could never get their heads back above water after the Bulldogs poured on a 3-point deluge in the first half.
Fort Recovery High School’s girls basketball team fell behind because of Ada’s eight triples in the opening half, and its comeback attempt came up short as it lost 53-49 Saturday in the second of two Division IV sectional title games at Coldwater.
“In the second half I thought we played hard. We got after it,” said first-year FRHS coach Brian Patch. “We played with some intensity. We played like it mattered. We went through a little run in the second quarter particularly where we didn’t play like that.
“I thought we showed a lot of heart and a lot of spunk coming back and fighting back.
“Looking back, we had a lot of missed easy shots that we could have hit. … Against good teams and in close games and in big moments, you can’t miss those shots. And unfortunately we missed too many of them.”
No. 5 Marion Local rolled to a 58-29 victory over St. Henry in the first sectional title game. Saturday’s winners will meet in district semifinal action at 6:15 p.m. Thursday at Wapakoneta.
Ada (20-4), which won its fourth straight sectional title, responded to Lennartz’s three-point play with six consecutive points for a 46-39 lead, and the Indians (17-7) were forced to foul the rest of the way. They got to within two at 51-49, but Alexis Amburgey hit a pair of free throws with 9.6 seconds remaining and a long 3-point try by Lennartz on the ensuing possession was off the mark.
The Bulldogs had committed turnovers on three straight possessions against Fort Recovery’s full-court press earlier in the fourth quarter, but closed the game by hitting 11-of-14 free throws.
“It got scary there. We had a 12-point lead, they made a run, Lennartz made a big shot and started getting them back in the game,” said Ada coach Bill Tafflingler. “We knew she was their senior and their go-to player and that she’d be the one that didn’t want her season to end. We just did everything we could to not let her score and it was just enough to win.”
Ada built its advantage thanks to a stunning 3-point display in the first half.
The Bulldogs trailed 7-2 midway through the opening quarter, but then Amburgey hit a long-distance shot that began to turn the tide. She and Tori Wyss combined to hit three triples in a span of less than a minute later in the quarter.
Another four 3-pointers, including three by Haley Wyss, helped Ada to a 13-5 advantage in the second quarter as it took a 27-19 lead into halftime.
“Haley hadn’t made anything in two or three games,” said Tafflingler of the sophomore, who finished 4-of-7 from long distance. “She stepped up, came off the bench and nailed them right away, which was big. We knew we had to make them against them, because that zone is really tough to penetrate against. So we had to move the ball and kick it out quick to our outside shooters and knock down shots. Fortunately for us, our girls knocked them down tonight.”
The Bulldogs shot 8-of-16 from beyond the arc in the first half, with the Wyss sisters each hitting three 3-pointers and Amburgey chipping in two.
Tori Wyss shared the game high of 20 points with Lennartz and also grabbed five rebounds. Amburgey and Haley Wyss each scored 14 points.
“In the games we’ve seen, we’ve seen one of the Wyss’ be hot or Amburgey be hot, but we’ve never seen all three of them hot at the same time,” said Patch. “When you get three shooters that can shoot it be on fire, that’s tough to guard.
“They got us out of our zone fairly quickly and we went man, and they were still hitting shots contested. Obviously they did a great job.”
Lennartz, who will play next season at Saginaw Valley State University, had a game-high five assists and five rebounds to go along with her 20 points in her final high school game. Kendra Siefring had nine points and eight rebounds, and freshman Carley Stone totaled eight points and four steals.